A premature baby that doctors say spent less time in the womb than any other surviving infant is to be released from a Miami hospital today.

Amillia Sonja Taylor was 9 1/2 inches long and weighed less than 10 ounces when she was born Oct. 24. She was delivered 21 weeks and six days after conception. Full-term births come after 37 to 40 weeks.

“We weren’t too optimistic,” Dr. William Smalling said Monday. “But she proved us all wrong.”

Neonatologists who cared for Amillia say she is the first baby known to survive after a gestation period of fewer than 23 weeks. A database run by the University of Iowa’s Department of Pediatrics lists seven babies born at 23 weeks from 1994 to 2003.

Amillia has experienced respiratory problems, a mild brain hemorrhage and some digestive problems, but none of the health concerns are expected to pose long-term problems, her doctors said.

“We can deal with lungs and things like that but, of course, the brain is the most important,” Dr. Paul Fassbach said Monday. “But her prognosis is excellent.”

Amillia now is about 26 inches long and weighs 4 1/2 pounds. She is the first child for Eddie and Sonja Taylor of Homestead. She was conceived by in vitro fertilization.

Fire at liquor store kills

gunman locked inside

Fire engulfed a Frederick liquor store in a shopping center Monday moments after a gunman barricaded inside began negotiating with police.

The gunman is believed to have died in the fire, but his body was not immediately recovered, said Lt. Thomas Chase, a spokesman for the Frederick Police Department. No other injuries were reported.

The gunman entered Jim’s liquor store in the Antietam Village Shopping Center shortly before 1 p.m. and ordered a clerk to leave, Chase said. The clerk ran to a neighboring store and called police. When officers arrived moments later, they were fired at but not injured.

Frederick police had contacted the man by phone and were negotiating with him when the fire started about 3 p.m., Chase said. The fire spread to neighboring stores.

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.